Tripper or deliverer for belt conveyers.



.1 Io.841,5t' 8. PATENTED JAN.15,1907.

- E. H. MESSITER.

TRIPPER OR DELIVERER FOR BELT GONVEYERS APPLICATION FILED APR.8. 1905.

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No. 841,56 8. 'PATENTED JAN. 15, 1907.

- E. H. MESSITER.

TRIPPER 0R DELIVERER FOR BELT- GONVEYERS.

APPLI ATIQNHLED pm. 1905.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 zil zzyawk "-IE NORRIS PETER: 50., WASHINGTON, D C.

UNITED STATES EDW'IN H. MESSITER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRIPPER OR DELIVERER FOR BELT CONVEYERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 15, 1907.

Application filed April 8. 1905- Serial No. 254,485.

T0 0% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN H. MEssrrER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, andState of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trippersor Deliverers for Belt Conveyors, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to trippers or deliverers for conveyers, and moreparticularly to trippers or deliverers for belt conveyors, the principalobject of the invention being to provide a tripper or deliverer which isadapted for very rapid travel and for a quick reversal of the directionof movement at the end of its path.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tripper or delivererof such construction that it may be driven by the belt in one directionat a speed equal to the speed of the belt and also driven by the belt inthe opposite direction at the rate of speed desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tripper or delivererwhich is adapted to be actuated by a conveyer-belt and which does notinclude any gears or pinions.

The objects above stated and others which will hereinafter appear areattained in the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings andfully described in this specification, and the scope of the invention isclearly defined in the appended claims, it be ing understood thatchanges in the apparatus within the scope of the claims may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing itsadvantages.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the improvedtripper or deliverer, a portion of the conveyer-belt, the devices forreversing the direction of movement, and a portion of thesupporting-framework of the conveyer. Fig. 2 is a view in verticalsection on the line 2 of Fig. 1, the view being taken in the directionindicated by the arrow. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view on the line 33 of Fig. 4, showing the mode of supporting the shaft of the tractionwheel and lower bend-pulley. Fig. 4 is a detail view, partly in sideelevation and partly in section, taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings by the reference characters marked thereon, Adesignates the deck of a belt conveyer as commonly constructed,troughing-idlers B being supported at suitable intervals upon the deck.

C designates the conveyer-belt, which travels over the troughing-idlersin the usual manner and is driven by any preferred form of drivingmechanism. The tripper is supported upon track-rails D, which arepreferably mounted, as shown, slightly above the troughing-idlers B. Thetripper is provided with flanged supporting-wheels 1, which rest uponthe track-rails D in the usual manner, and a suitable framework 2, whichis carried by the supporting-wheels, carries the receiving-hopper 3 andthe driving mechanism of the tripper. The belt C passes around an upperbend-pulley 4, arranged adjacent to the hopper 3, and then around alower bendpulley 5, which is referably of larger diameter than the ben-pulley 4 and is arranged somewhat behind the up er bend-pulley ingniler to impart the usual ogee curve to the The upper bend-pulley 4 ismounted on the shaft 6, which turns in fixed bearing-blocks 7 but thelower bend-pulley 5 is carried by a shaft or axle 8, which turns inspring-supported bearings 10, each of which is formed in the lower partof a sliding frame 11, which works between fixed guides 12, mounted onthe tripper-frame. Each sliding frame 11 rests upon a coil-spring 13,which is supported by a hanger 14, which is adjustably held by screws15, threaded in lateral extensions of the hanger and resting upon theside bars of the tripper-frame 2. Besidesaffording support for the lowerbend-pulley 5 the shaft or axle 8 has rigidly attached to its ends apair of traction-wheels 16, each of which is adapted to engage one ofthe track-rails D.

The sliding frames 11, in which the bearings 10 for the shaft or axle 8are placed, are normally raised by the springs 13, as indicated in Fig.3, and when the sliding frames 1 1 are thus raised the wheels 16,carried by the shaft 8, are raised out of contact with the track-railsand are brought into contact with brake-shoes 17, which are stationaryand which prevent rotation of the wheels. Each brake-shoe 17 is attachedto a brake-bar 18, one end of which turns on a pivot 1.9,projectinglaterally from the tripper-frame, and the other end of which may beadjusted to compensate for wear upon the brake-shoe, adjusting-nuts 20being provided on a screw 21, which extends through the free end of thebrake-bar for that purpose. The screw 21 extends downward from a lateralprojecting bracket 22, carried by the tripper-frame, as best shown inFig. 3.

In order to depress the shaft or axle 8 and bring the traction-wheel 16into engagement with the track-rails D, a lever 23 is pivotallyconnected with each sliding frame 11 at the top and is fulcrumed on apivot 24, carried by a vertical. link 25, which is preferably mounted atits lower end on the pivot 19 of the brake-bar 18. The lever 23 isactuated by an arm 26, rigidly attached to a shaft 27, which extendstransversely of the tripperfi'ame and has attached thereto, near eitherend, one member 28 of a pair of toggle links or levers, the other member29 being pivoted to the lever 23. The lever-arm 26 is provided at itsfree end with a roller 30, which is adapted for engagement with atripping-cam 31 near one end of the range of the trippers travel and atripping-cam 32 near the other end of the trippers travel. The cam 31presents an upwardly-inclined cam-face over which the roller 30 moves,and when the roller 30 passes over the face of the tripping cam 31 thelever-arm 26 is raised to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,thus rocking the shaft 27 sufficiently to shift the toggle-links 28 and29 into the dotted-line position, and thereby to depress the end of eachlever 23, which is attached to one of the sliding frames 11. Thedepression of the frames 11 brings the traction-wheels 16 intoengagement with the track-rails D, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig.1, and when the lever-arm 26 reaches its dotted-line position it isarrested bya stop 33, which projects laterally from the side of thetripper-frame. The action of the springs 13 against the correspondingsliding frames 11 tends to force the sliding frames upward and todepress the ends of the levers 23, which are connected with thetoggle-links. This tendency is. overcome by the stop 33, against whichthe lever-arm 26 is pressed, and as the togglelinks are forced past theposition of alinement by the action of the tripping-cam 31 upon thelever-arm 26 the lever-arm 26 remains in the position shown in dottedlines until it is depressed. The depression of the leverarm from thedotted-line position to that shown in solid lines is brought about bythe tripping-cam 32.

The operation of the tripper or deliverer is as follows: The belt 0travels in the direction indicated and tends to impart rotation to thelower bend-pulley 5 in. the direction opposite to the movement of thehands of a clock. When the lower bend-pulley 5 is raised, as shown insolid lines in the several figures, the rotation of the bend-pulley isopposed by the action of the brake-shoes 17 upon the traction-wheels 16,which are rigidly mounted on the shaft or axle 8, to which the lowerbendpulley is also rigidly secured. The springs 13 are sufficientlypowerful to hold the traction-wheel 16 in such forcible contact with thebrake-shoes that practically no rotation of the lower bend-pulley willtake place, and consequently while the said lower bend-pulley is raisedthe friction of the belt C upon the lower bend-pulley will cause thetripper to move forward at the speed of the belt. WVhen the trippernears the forward end of its path, the engagement of the roller 30 withthe tripping-cam 31 will raise the lever-arm 26 to the dotted-lineposition and move the traction-wheels out of contact with the brakeshoes17, allowing the lower bend-pulley and the traction-wheels to rotate inthe direction indicated. The lowering of the bend-pulley and tractionwheels brings the traction wheels into engagement with the track-railsD, over which the traction-wheels slide until the friction developed issufficient to arrest the forward movement of the tripper. As

soon as the forward movement of the tripper is arrested the action ofthe traction-wheels upon the track-rails will cause the tripper totravel backward toward the rear end of its path, and this travel will becontinued until the roller 30 is brought into engagement with thetripping-cam 32, by which engagement the lever-arm 26 will be depressed,and the springs 1 3 will then raise the lower bend-pulley andtrack-wheels until the latter are brought into engagment with thebrake-shoes 17, which gradually stop the rotation of the traction-wheelsand arrest the rearward movement of the tripper. As soon as the rearwardmovement of the tripper is overcome the friction of the belt on thelower bendpulley, which is held stationary by the action of thebrake-shoes on the tractionwheels, will cause the tripper to travelagain in a forward direction.

The space required for the reversal of movement of the tripper at eachend of its path will depend upon the rate at which the tripper istraveling and the degree of friction developed between thetraction-wheels and. the track-rails or the brake-shoes. If the rate oftravel of the tripper is very rapid, a considerable space will berequired to arrest its movement if the friction ofthe tractionwheelsagainst the track-rails or the brake shoes is the sole means employedfor arresting the movement of the tripper. In such cases it may bedesirable to supplement the arresting effect of the friction of thetractionwheels by means of a yielding buffer of any suitableconstruction. (Not shown.) Ordinarily, however, such a buffer will notbe required. Hence none has been illustrated.

As the tripper moves forward at the speed of the belt the tripper has nodischarging effect during its forward movement; but when the tripper ismoving rearward the load on the belt will be discharged into the hopper3, from which it passes downward and to one side through adischarge-chute 3 of any suitable construction.

When the brake-shoes 17 become worn from use, the wear may becompensated for by adjusting the nuts 20 on the screw 21 to depress thefree ends of the brake-bars 18, and the pressure exerted by the springs13 against the sliding frames 11 to raise the traction-wheels againstthe brake-shoes can be regulated by means of the screws 15, by which thesupporting-hangers 1 1 are carried.

While the tripper and tripper-operating mechanism above described areprimarily intended for use with rapidly-moving belts, it is obvious thatthey may be used with belts traveling at low rates of speed as well.

It will also be seen that the tripper-operating mechanism is extremelysimple in construction and is characterized by the absence of allintermeshing gears and pinions, thus reducing its cost to a minimum andso preventing stripping of gear-teeth, which would be liable to occur inthe ordinary geared tripper if operated at high speed and suddenlyreversed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A. tripper or deliverer for conveyers having a traction-wheelshiftable into and out of engagement with a track or support.

2. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeland means for mov ing the traction-wheel into and out of engagement withthe track or support.

3. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with a track or support,and means for applying power continuously to said traction-wheel.

4. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheel,means for supplying power to said traction-wheel and means for movingsaid traction-wheel into and out of engagement with the track orsupport.

5. In a tripper 0r deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeldriven by the conveyer and adapted for movement into or out ofengagement with the track or support.

6. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a traction-wheel shiftableinto or out of engagement with the track or support, and a pulley ordrum operatively connected with the traction-wheel and directly drivenby the conveyer.

7. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with a track or support,means for applying power to the lJIiLCtlOII-XVllQGl, and a brakearranged to operate upon said traction-wheel when out of engagement withthe track or support.

8. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with a track or support,and a fixed brake with which the traction-wheel engages when out ofengagement with the track or support.

9. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with a track or support,a brake with which said traction-wheel contacts when not in engagementwith the track or support, and means for holding the traction-wheelnormally in contact with said brake.

10. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with the track orsupport and an adjustable brake with which said traotion-wheel contactswhen not in engagement with the track or support.

11. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiitable traction-wheeladapted for movement into or out of engagement with a track or support,and a spring by which said traction-wheel is normally held out ofengagement with the track or support.

12. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction;wheelnormally held out of engagement with the track or support, and means forforcing said traction-wheel into engagement with the track and holdingit in such engagement.

13. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a bend-pulley over whichthe conveyer runs and a traction-wheel rigidly connected with saidbend-pulley.

14. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable bend-pulleyover which the conveyer runs, and a traction-wheel rigidly connectedwith said bend-pulley.

15. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a vertically-shiftablebend-pulley over which the conveyer runs, and a traction-wheel rigidlyconnected with said bend-pulley.

16. In a tripper or deliverer for belt conveyers, a shiftabletraction-wheel adapted for movement into and out of engagement with atrack or support and means for shifting said traction-wheel, saidshifting means including a lever and a pair of toggle-links.

17. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeland means for shifting the traction-wheel said shifting means includinga lever, a pair of toggle-links, and a stop to limit the movement ofsaid lever.

18. In a tripper or deliverer for conveyers, a shiftable traction-wheeladapted for movement into and out of engagement with a track or support,means for holding said traction-wheel normally out of engagement withthe track or support, and means including a tripping-cam for overcomingsaid means for holding the traction-wheel normally out of engagementwith the track or support and for forcing the traction-wheel intoengagement with said track or support. 19. In a traveling tripper ordeliverer for belt conveyers, means for obtaining a hold on the belt tocause the tripper to travel in a IIC forward direction at the speed ofthe belt, a l veyers, means for imparting movement to traction-Wheel,and means for transmitting movement from the belt to the traction- Wheelto cause the tripper to travel in the direction opposite to the travelof the belt.

20. In a traveling tripper for belt conveyers, means for automaticallyreversing the direction of travel of the tripper, said means comprisinga shiftable traction-Wheel driven in a direction adapted to impartmovement to the tripper 1n the direction opposite to its direction oftravel and means for moving said traction-Wheel into engagement With atrack and holding it in such engagement.

21. In a traveling tripper for belt conthe tripper, said meanscomprising a beltdriven traction-Wheel engaging a track or support, andmeans for reversing the direction of movement of said tripper, saidreversing means including means for moving said traction-Wheel out ofengagement With the track or support and applying a brake thereto.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name in the presence of twoWitnesses.

EDWIN H. MESSITER.

Witnesses:

H. RICHARD W6BsE, BAXTER MORTON.

